Welcome Back, Earl

I'm of that age as a (former) football fan that I don't remember not knowing who Earl Campbell was; were it not for YouTube, it'd be hard to believe he actually was the wrecking ball he was during his time at Texas & the NFL. But then, I don't really remember noticing when he retired at only 31 years old. The next thing I heard, years later, is his body had taken such a battering that he couldn't walk; a once proud rare physical specimen, severely cut down by the game he was so good at:

In the late 1990s, at a benefit 30 miles away from his East Texas hometown of Tyler, Earl Campbell sat at a table while the party's host, a colorful businessman and one of Campbell's best friends, summoned sheepish onlookers to come say hello to the legend.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get on over here," he said. "Earl don't get up."

Campbell wasn't aloof, wasn't too cool to get up, despite the darkened Wayfarers that made him look cool. "Earl don't get up" because he couldn't.

Campbell was once seen as the baddest man on the planet. He left tacklers and pieces of his tearaway jersey on the field behind him. Off the field, he wore Wranglers and giant belt buckles and did Skoal commercials. He was declared an official State Hero in 1981 by the Texas legislature, an honor previously only bestowed upon Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston and Davy Crockett.

As time went on and he was out of public view, Campbell broke down. At the Heisman Trophy ceremony, he remained in his seat while his fraternity brothers lined up on stage behind the winner. At Texas football games, he was always in a golf cart or riding on a scooter. Fans would pity him, muttering "Poor Earl," as they tried to reconcile their love of football with Campbell being seen as a cautionary tale of its ravages.

Long story short, turns out Campbell's physical breakdown wasn't solely due to the regular erosion football may do to a body:

Campbell learned he had played with spinal stenosis all his life.

It's a narrowing of the space inside the spine, leading to pressure on nerves and causes pain, weakness or numbness. It's the same diagnosis that caused Michael Irvin to retire midseason and caused Cooper Manning to give up football at Ole Miss before his brothers went on to the NFL. 

Thankfully, after years of misdiagnoses and addiction, Campbell today feels better than he has in decades. The reason I'm bringing this up? A few months ago, Mad Dog (my bff!) took a phone call from "Earl from Tyler", who'd waited patiently on the phone for 40 minuets to talk to Dog about...something, I can't remember what. After a few minutes Dog realized who he was talking to, incredulous Campbell hadn't simply told the call screener, "I'm Earl Campbell, put me on with Mad Dog now." He was a fan of the show, and it's been a treat to hear him call in over the last few months, both to hear his aw-shucks laconic Texas accent and Dog's absolute glee in talking to one of the all-time greats.